Cattle, pigs and ponies introduced to rewilding project

Longhorn cattle, iron-age pigs and Exmoor ponies joined the bison herd at the Wilder Blean Project in Kent ahead of World Rewilding Day.

Called conservation grazers, the animals have been introduced as a way to naturally manage the woodland and are expected to help clear space for plant species as they forage for food.

READ MORE: From near extinction to the Blean: Plans afoot to introduce bison into 'Garden of England'

It follows the reintroduction of three female bison last July into the woodland north of Canterbury, followed by a bull imported from Germany and the first calf to be born in the UK in thousands of years.

Kent Wildlife Trust and Wildwood Trust, which jointly run the project, said the bison immediately began to improve the habitat upon their arrival by debarking trees and creating deadwood, which makes homes for bats and invertebrates.

They also create corridors through the woodland by treading down bracken and eating brambles and have been seen dust-bathing, which makes sandpits loved by burrowing insects.

Area manager Alison Ruyter said: “Wilder grazing is about using native wild breeds of livestock to mimic the things that mega-herbivores would have done in the past when wild horses, aurochs and bison roamed around the country.

“They were inextricably linked with their habitats and we want to mimic that using the animals available to us now.”

The public will be able to walk among the grazing cattle and ponies but the bison will remain fenced off because of legislative requirements, the project leaders said.

The grazers will be monitored for their effect on the environment, with the woodland managers collecting data on soil, insect numbers and vegetation structure.

They are expected to boost biodiversity and bioabundance and the monitoring programme will provide scientific evidence for the value of nature-based solutions, the project managers said.